BREAKING NEWS: Egypt to Host 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

Sherif Khairy

Older generations have known the Egyptian National team to face ups and downs throughout its history, recording only two FIFA World Cup appearances in 1934, and much, much later in 1990. The generations born in the 90s never really saw our national team garner a lot of success. You see, Egypt only won a single Africa Cup of Nations during that time, in 1998, and it wasn’t until 2006 that younger generations really saw the national team in all its glory.

All of this started when Egypt hosted the Africa Cup of Nations, with the golden generation, led by Hassan Shehata, managing to win the title. This golden generation, featuring Abou Trika, El-Hadary, Zidane, Ahmed Fathi, Amr Zaky, Hossam Hassan, Emad Moteab, Wael Gomaa, and many more, went on to win two more consecutive Africa Cup of Nations, bringing Egypt’s tally to seven titles, crowing Egypt as the country with the most tournament wins. This generation also qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, and despite not progressing from the group stage, Egypt managed to embarrass a strong Brazilian team before eventually losing 4-3, and conquer the tough Italian team in a 1-0 win.

Unfortunately, this golden generation failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, and after 2010, the national team went through a dry period of no World Cup, and no trophies. Yet, 2018 was a recovery year for the national team. It was a year of pride and hope, as our national team managed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

Looking to bring back our former glory, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has just announced that Egypt will be hosting the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Yes, after 13 years of not hosting the competition, the African fight for championship will return to the land of the Pharaohs for the fifth time. Cameroon has been slow in their preparations for the competition, which led the CAF to strip them of that duty, and the choice was between Egypt and South Africa.

This is a great opportunity for Egypt to boost its tourism. The competition is set for next June, which means we only have six months to finalise our preparations for the tournament. So get ready Cairenes, because this June, Africa is coming to us.